Happily Ever After.And After: Serialization and the Popular Romance Novel

In 1982, none of the four romance novels that won a Golden Medallion, the top literary prize for romance fiction, belonged to a narrative series. In 2012, nine of the twelve romance novels that won a (renamed) RITA award belonged to a narrative series. This change in what kind of romance novels are deemed "outstanding" examples of the genre and receive top honors from the influential Romance Writers of America (RWA) is significant ("Rita Awards"). It points towards one of the most important yet understudied developments in the popular romance genre over the last thirty years: the growing interest in and eventual boom of narrative serialization. Although little is known about the history of serialization in romance novels, it is clear that the serial format has become increasingly prominent in the genre in the last few decades. Twenty-five years ago, between 1988 and 1992, seventeen percent of the RITA-winning romances belonged to a narrative series. A decade later, between 1998 and 2002, this number had risen to forty percent. In the last five years (2008-2012), no less than sixty-three percent of RITAs were awarded to serialized romances.The systematic rise of the serial narrative in the popular romance genre as reflected by the genre's award history seems to be reaching new highs in recent years. Not only did serialized romances set new records on the award circuit, but the format is scoring on bestseller lists as well. According to information provided by RWA, sixty-three percent of the top bestselling romances between 2007 and 2011 were part of a narrative series (Fry). Roughly eighty-five percent of the romance novels that appeared on the extended New York Times bestseller list in April 2013 similarly belong to a narrative series. Two of the most famous romance novels of the last decade, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (2008) and E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), are likewise part of a narrative series. While the immense popularity of Meyer's and particularly James' serial work brings the boom of romance serialization into relief for a mainstream audience, these mega-bestsellers are part of a much wider development in the romance genre that needs our attention.The unprecedented prevalence and popularity of romance novels that are part of narrative series raises a number of pressing questions. Some of these questions have to do with the very definition of the romance genre itself. Romance is a generic form defined by its happy ending, stakeholders across the board have argued. In a romance novel, the protagonists who meet, fall in love, and struggle to overcome the barriers between them are always rewarded with true love in the end. If this ending is a necessary feature of the genre, what does narrative serialization in a romance novel look like? Which narrative strategies are used in romance novels to create serial connections between different installments in a series while allowing the narrative to reach the definitive optimistic conclusion that seems to be its generic raison d'etre? Are there limits to the degree of serialization that the genre can handle, and if so what are they? Other questions have to do with the reception of serialized romance novels. What is at stake in the use of narrative serialization for both the genre and its readers? Recent sales figures seem to suggest that romance readers have collectively fallen in love with romance serialization. What about the series format might particularly appeal to the genre's predominantly female reader? Do serialized romances perhaps offer their readers something these booklovers cannot find elsewhere? And if this is the case, why has the genre really embraced serialization only in fairly recent times?Answers to these and other questions about serialization in popular romance novels require a thorough examination of this phenomenon, which has so far been ignored by scholars. The current article aims to lay the foundation for such a more extensive scholarly exploration of the romance serial. …